A method and apparatus for initializing optical recording media is provided that detects the intensity of a reflective light off of an optical recording media and analyzes the initializing condition based on the detected intensity during an initializing process. The light is radiated on a rotating phase-change optical recording medium. The light maybe moved in a radial direction of the optical recording medium. The detected intensity of the reflected light may be used to identify crystallized portions and amorphous portions of the optical media. The initialization process can be adaptively controlled to ensure proper initialization. If desired, re-initialization can be limited to those areas detected to be outside of the predetermined parameters.